new deal

I've made a deal with myself. I can let the eating go for now but I have to keep up the exercise. I didn't make it to aquarobics on Monday due to being forced to go to the pub instead, but I'm definitely going tonight. Cycled a few miles this morning, visiting the Asian markets in search of Shiny Things to shiny up my outfit for the belly dancing party on Friday night.

I've paranoid about being horribly under-dressed. I know some of the women at the other classes spend most of their spare time constructing elaborate home-made costumes, and I suspect even my sister, who's going to go with me, is bound to have something very glam to wear. Ah well. I'll just load myself up with shiny hair clips, just-about-fit-if-forced-on-with-aid-of-soap Indian bangles & jangly fabric trim with teeny silver bells and shimmy with the best of 'em.

Other news: I just found out that dub legend the Mad Professor is live at the Band on the Wall a week on Friday. A week on Friday it will be 10 years to the day since R & I first met. And guess where me first me? Yup, BotW (although at a very different kind of gig). So I guess that pretty much sorts out what we're doing for our anniversary.

Other other news: IACGMOOH4 line up announced wooooooooooo hoooooooooo! I love IAC. I become easily addicted to (un)reality tv shows. Even R, brainiac intellectual who hardly watches TV, has gotten addicted to the past 2 series. Still gutted that they didn't let Frank Carson on it, tho. He had his own wellies and everything.

in need of some religious guidance

Good point well made, Mr. Duncan. As you clearly say, it states in Leviticus Chapter 18 Verse 22 that homosexuality is an abomination. Which reminds me—there are a couple of things I need guidance on. Firstly, If I wanted to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7, how much could I expect to make from such a deal? Also, my colleague Pete insists on working on the sabbath. Exodus clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it OK to get some outside help? Lastly, does the whole city really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side. And when I burn my mother for wearing garments made from two different threads, do I torch her whole or just a bit?

Jeremy Hardy
(thanks to the The Unofficial Jeremy Hardy Page for this)

it's good to get nice surprises

Like when you're dragged to 'jam night' at the local pub, sit through some stripey-jumpered-trombone-and-sax j*zz combo (nice!) and then up gets some elderly Jamaican bloke, borrows a guitar and sounds like he's stepped right out of a Trojan ska cd.

you may say I'm a cynic, but I'm not the only one

... a quick round-up of some alternative views of BandAid 2004

20 years ago perhaps we could get away with a naive belief that the 'hey kids, let's put on a show!' approach could do anything about solving world poverty. Well, I could get away with it at least, cos hey I was 17 and didn't know any better. But in the last 20 years I've learned some stuff. Including that whatever St Bob of Geldof says, it's not about the money. Not about the money raised for charidee, at any rate. If current patterns of world trade and global inequalities remain, no amount of charidee records will stop millions starving.

And even 20 years ago, I wasn't completely naive. A short list of things that annoyed me about the original BandAid/LiveAid:

1 - David Bowie complaining that 'the government' wasn't giving enough money to famine relief. Scuse me Mr David 'lives abroad in tax exile' Bowie, where exactly do you think the government's going to get some money from to do owt about owt?

2 - the picture created of all Ethiopians, all Africans, as helpless starving victims. The first time I met someone from Ethiopia, the year after LiveAid, I was genuinely surprised to meeting a non-starving Ethiopian. (It's a little publicised fact that more money now flows into the developing world from the remittances of migrant workers, than from foreign aid).

3 - Bono's famous 'tonight thank god it's them instead of you' line always disturbed me. Of course I am profoundly grateful that it's not me, but I don't want it not to be me at the expense of 'them'.

Letter in Observer Music Monthly from Bert Erikten Cate

Leaving aside the artistic qualities of such a project, I wonder why these artists are so keen to lend their voices. Is it because they care about Africa, or about their own image? If they really cared, surely they could have found the words and a tune to vent their anger about the inequality in the world.

Piece on the Guardian's newsblog by Jon Dennis

Yes, yes, yes, we all know it's a good cause. Dur. But why should we be so grateful to these millionaires for their precious time? They could just donate a large chunk of their not-so-hard-earned cash if they care so passionately about it. Just a suggestion.

From the Chumbas (who released the 'Pictures of Starving Children..' album in 1986)

... the song remains the same: carefully scripted emotion, tears instead of anger and no explanations of why the world is in a permanent crisis. Twenty years ago Band Aid reflected a peculiar brand of ignorance; Africa was portrayed as being at the mercy of the weather. We had video shots of fly blown children, dry water holes and popstars arriving at recording studios. Anything else like the West''s over consumption, the way that free trade exploits, collusion with military dictatorships and corrupt governments on all sides was probably deemed too complex. Twenty years on we have a better understanding of what 'free trade' actually means in terms of diverting resources like land away from food production and towards goods that are shipped and consumed in the West, we know about the deals that go on behind the scenes, we even know that Western governments fund terror, after all the C.I.A. trained, threw cash at and aided and abetted Bin Laden in Afghanistan. We can do without returning to an age where we pretended popstars can solve famine by fighting over who sings the chorus.

And no, the irony of a diet blogger, blogging about starving children isn't lost on me.

is your MP doing what s/he said on the tin?

TheyWorkForYou.com

a site that grabs Hansard by the scruff of the neck, shakes it up and republishes it in a slick format that's easily accessible to political junkies and casual surfers alike. Want to find out what your local MP thinks about Iraq? Or how likely they are to vote against their party? Or how safe their seat is? Just enter your postcode and theyworkforyou.com will tell you all that and more.

go stalk your MP and start making the democratic process a teeny bit more accountable. (Site found during my morning gruaniad-browse).

if it's Sunday it must be ..

... Observer [food/sport/music/other]* Monthly day hurrah. Music Monthly today, so I can stock up on ideas for musics to download purchase this month. Also there was a feature on Trin's eldest and her bessie mate, which was nice.

I am so not sending OMM an email pointing out that they got the name of the band in Eastenders wrong [1] because that would be sad. I'm not going to do it, really I'm not ... /turns off puter & goes for a bath and a lie down before the urge overwhelmes me ...



* delete as appropriate

[1] they were called The Banned not The Band - so called because they got banned from playing in the Vic. Yes I knew that without googling. I'm not proud but then again, this was way back in the mists of time, when I were a lass and Eastenders were good. Ask yer parents about it kids, they'll tell you all about Ye Goode Olde Dayes in Ye Square.

fairground attractions

So, it's Eid this weekend and O is still disgusted that we are denying him his Islamic heritage, on the flimsy grounds of his having exclusively Scottish/Irish, (formerly) Protestant/Catholic (both now atheist) parentage. What kind of exuse is that? A party's a party, after all, so last night we decided to take him to the fun fair that's on in Rusholme as part of the Eid festivities.

O was so excited. I think he was under the impression we'd finally recognised his Muslim identity. Plus, when you're five, going out after dark is an adventure in itself. He was nearly bursting by the time we got to the fairground. Seen through the eyes of a five year old, fairgrounds stop being seedy, tatty, tawdry, over-priced disappointments, and go back to being magical, exciting places full of lights and colour.

O went on a couple of the little-kid rides, but was feeling grown-up enough for some of the 'real' rides too. We went on the bumper cars twice, and even on the waltzers (I used to love waltzers, but I'm sure they must have got faster since I were a lass, I felt a bit queasy after last night's ride). Very disappointed that there was no proper candyfloss onna stick, tho - only stoopid bags of it. I was going to buy O some candyfloss n'all, but not if it's not onna stick! That bag candyfloss is vile and tastes like sugared cotton wool, not like the proper fresh stuff onna stick that makes your whole face sticky. Bah to progress, if progress means candyfloss in a bag.

Eid Mubarak

about Eid ul Fitr

top telly!

completely ace fab brill night in front of tv in store tonight ... new [1] Simpsons, the genius that is Peter Kay in new show, new series of Peep Show and then classic Fr Ted. I realise this is old hat to you lot with proper new-fangled telly-boxes, but to us terrestrial only magic lantern types, it's a night made in tv heaven.

Happy Diwali

about Diwali, from the BBC

things can only get better

Firstly, thanks to everyone who commented on yesterday's woe-filled post. I've been trying to think positive about things, which is hard for someone like me whose default position is doom, gloom and disaster. However, when I compare how I am now to how I was two years ago, I can see how much progress I have made.

Two years ago I probably weighed a little less than I do now, but I smoked 20-30 cigarettes a day, took very little exercise and binged on cr@p (although I didn't call it bingeing then). Now, I don't smoke and I exercise regularly. I feel much fitter and healthier. In terms of losing weight, I have now at least idenified some of what I am up against, realising that I have compulsive eating issues, and so weight loss for me is not as simple as some like to make out. And as Marla said, "Sometimes the only progress you can make towards a dream is just HAVING it".

Other good things that have happened to me today:

• R made that doctor's apppointment and went to see his GP this morning (doc says he should deffo stay off the grapefruit juice)
  
  
• a while back I was whingeing about being bored of my musics: well, I read in the gruaniad yesterday about this audioscrobbler oozit, that tracks what you listen to and then gives you recommendations for other stuff you might like. See sidebar for link to what I've been listening to ...
  
  
• this morning, I went into O's bedroom to give him the usual nagging about why he should be getting dressed for school instead of playing with his toys. But he wasn't playing with toys, he was sitting on the floor reading Green Eggs and Ham. I was amazed and pleased and proud, it's the first time he has ever voluntarily read a book to himself. Despite being the child of a pair of bookworms, he's never been much of a one for reading/looking at books on his own (tho he does love his bed time stories). To see him reading to himself was such a joy. And he was really reading, not just reciting the story - he was stumbling over words as he tried to work them out, whereas if you asked him just to say the story he'd be able to recite most of it off by heart. Proud Mum Moment.
  
  
• I spent this morning how I'm going to spend most of my Friday mornings from now on - helping out in O's class. Only people very, very close to me know this, but I am thinking of becoming a teacher. If I do want to, I will have to start by getting a degree (I have part of one, but left university without finishing), most likely part time with the Open University. That would take me at least 4 years, then I'd have another year of teacher training, so it's a long road if I decide to go down it. Spending time regularly in school will help me see if it's really what I want, plus the experience will give men advantage when applying for training places. And most importantly, I enjoy it!

thought for the day ...

This coat my royal gown
A stolen hand-me-down
No need to scrape and bow
We can be heroes now
For more than just one day
Here's how
Look both ways when crossing roads
Don't wear slippers till you're old
Never do what you are told

Chumbawamba

the great pretender

Another day of Bad Eating yesterday. Somewhere around 3, 000 cals consumed ffs. So I'm feeling like this blog is a bit of a fraud and I should rename it to somethign like "Clazza's rambling about the first thing that pops into her head and occassionally making half-arsed efforts to eat less lard Blog" .

So many other diet bloggers are doing great things, working hard and making real changes, I feel like an imposter. I'm not keeping to a proper eating plan, I can't (won't?) stop binge eating, I do some exercise but don't keep to my targets, I'm gaining wieght not losing it.

I'm not saying any of this looking for sympathy or whatever. I know what I'm doing wrong. I know that I am not putting the necessary mental effort into changing things. I suppose I have to work out how much I want to change, and if I want it enough to do the work.

So, I'll keep on rambling about Stuff for now, but am not sure if weight loss will be a central focus for a while ...

Other news: in 1986, the BraggMeister recorded the song 'Help Save the Youth of America', which includes the lines: This is the land of opportunity, and there's a monkey trial on TV. I cannot begin to express how profoundly depressing it is that 18 years later, there are still monkey trials taking place in the US. It's the kind of thing that we Brits snigger at, roll our eyes and say 'only in America, eh?'.

If only. Creationism and biblical fundamentalism are being promoted at state-funded schools in my own country, and our prime minister has refused to take sides. No wonder him and Georgie are best mates.

Oh and while I'm bush-bashing (and why not?), I really don't want the world's great superpower run by someone suffering from sleep deprivation.

Pandas (and others) apologise to the world ...

ok now I'm really worried

Colin Powell says 'US to remain 'aggressive' abroad'

The US Secretary of State has said that his country will continue to pursue an "aggressive" foreign policy. ... This policy had traditionally been "aggressive in terms of going after challenges, issues", Mr Powell added, and the president was "going to keep moving in this direction".

yesteday Afghanistan, today Iraq, tomorrow Iran?

when O grows up he wants to be ...

... a Muslim. He is not happy that we've told him he isn't one now, and that he can be one if he wants but he'll have to wait till he's grown up. They must've been doing about Islam at school as it's Ramadan, and also there are lots of Muslim children in school. O is further not happy that mummy and daddy say that while some people believe in god, and there are different ways of believing in god of which being a Muslim is one, we don't actually so believe ourselves. Ah well, first religious debate of many, no doubt.

Made me think, tho, about fasting. Every year I am impressed by all the people I meet who fast all day during Ramadan. No food, no drink, nothing. I don't know how they do it. I am even more impressed by a couple of women I know who work in restaurants and are preparing and serving food all day, and not eating themselves. Amazing will power. Not that it helps them lose weight tho - they reckon they eat more during Ramadan, not less, as their mothers stuff them with food from sun down to sun up.

Ramadan Mubarak

get your spam off my blogosphere!

Wired News: When the Spam Hits the Blogs

bad! referral log spam is bad! I've just started using a new site meter, mainly because I wanted better referral logs. But fecking feckers are spamming referral logs! Go away and leave our blogosphere alone.

yesterday and today

Yesterday wasn't bad, although I couldn't go to usual Monday night aquarobics because R had a meeting. Dunno how today will pan out, I have a pile of work to get done and so no time for morning walk boo. Will try and eat right, at least.

Review of Yesterday
food/cals ~ 2165; fruit ~ 3 (apple, 2 bananas); exercise ~ 20 mins walk, 9,872 steps on pedometer for the day; water ~ 1.5 l; booze ~ 2 vodka & diet cokes oops

if at first you don't succeed ... move the goalposts

I am not keeping up to my plan right now. Part of me, my Inner Fat Girl (nods to Shrinking Gurl), is telling me "well, look, you can't keep to that, it's too hard so you may as well give up now". But I have an Inner Slim Fit Girl struggling to get out, and she says that if I can't do the full plan, I could do an easier version of it for a while, which would at least keep me in some kind of focus. So here goes ...

Daily

• calorie count! - weigh and write down what I eat calorie count as much as possible, but not mind giving up if the numbers get too depressing that day
  
• aim to eat 1500 - 1750 1750 - 2000 calories per day
  
• drink at least 1 litre of water a day
  
• eat no crisps
  
• drink no sugary fizzy drinks
  
• think before eating - am I really hungry? what will this food do for me?
  
• eat at least 3 pieces of fruit a day (together with the veggies I usually get at meal times, that will put me on target for 'Five a Day')
  
• remember to suck my tummy in as much as possible!


• try and reflect on how eating cr@p food affects me - how I feel when I'm eating it, after I've eaten it, next day, etc

Weekly

• exercise for at least 30 minutes, 5 3 days out of 7, normally to include including at least 2 from:
  
  • 1 aquarobics session
    
  • 1 belly dance class
    
  • 1 swim
    
  • do my belly dance video once a week
    
• walk for 30 mins, at least 3 days a week
  
• go by bike (instead of car/bus) whenever practical
  
• do something active with O every weekend (eg bike ride, walk, go swimming)
  
• weigh myself once a week only, on Monday mornings

Monthly

• lose 1 lb a week on average (the 'pound a week' club) lose whatever I lose, and be happy not to gain
  
• set a monthly challenge

Other News: Dead Ringers, while funnier on t'wireless, is the highlight of my Monday. Doctor Who on the Eurostar, Dubya's Bushisms and alternatively as Beavis/Butthead, v funny. But the Cheyney sketch was just scarey.

Don't you just hate it...

Inspired by Mr Steve @ Grumblemag, I too feel the need to vent some spleen. Things I have been just hating today ...

... when US congresspersons warn of 'lesbians invading school bathrooms' and say openly gay teachers should be banned from schools, and the Bush victory makes the US gay community fear 'a new era of intolerance'

... when Sunday supplement journos put on at least 3 pairs of rose-tinted glassed everytime they go near France (see below)

... when men who should (and usually do) know better, fall into male stereotypes. R has a heart condition, for which he takes various drugs daily. One of those is cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin, so I was concerned to read that simvastatin users should perhaps avoid grapefruit juice - grapefruit being R's juice-of-choice. Then I read that there are questions about the efficacy of atenolol, which he also takes. I am duly wary of taking health advice from t'interweb, but these seem like proper medical studies, and I think warrant at least a chat with his doctor. Has he made an appointment so to do? No. Do I feel like his mother when I remind him about it? Yes. *sigh*

... when people have their kid's birthday party at some gawd-awful just-off-the-motorway impossible-to-get-to-by-bike-or-public-transport souless nestle-sponsored 'fun' venue. Join me in the Campaign for Proper Kids' Birthday Parties and stop this tide of evil!

... when I have an Avril Lavigne song stuck in my head - it's all O's fault

bear with me ...

... while I get myself back in gear. The first half of last week was OK but then it all went down hill. There was the party, which was kind of to be expected, but that's not the real problem. The real problem is I've been bingeing again. I felt crappy when I got up this morning, which I suspect is due to the amount of crap and salt and sugar and additives I've ingested in the past few days. Unsurprisingly I haven't lost any weight this week, although I haven't gained either. It's a good job I've kept up doing some of my exercise, at least.

I'm back trying to be 'good' today, but I'm not sure I've got the energy. Feel quite 'bleurgh' in myself today. My 'problem', if it is a problem, is this. My priorities for my health are:

1. stay sane
2. stay stopped smoking
3. lose weight/get fit

So, if I start to feel a bit wobbly, the 'eating right' part is the first thing to go, closely followed by the exercise. Which is stupid, I know. Logically, I know I feel much better when I eat good food and get regular exercise. But it's not a question of logic, it's all about emotions and my emotions are fairly fecked up. Ah well, I will just keep trying to do the best I can. Which will better some weeks than others.

Maybe I should learn to eat like a French woman? Cos obv that story reflects the experiences of all French women and not just the kind of smug upper middle class ones that smug upper middle class Sunday supplement journos come into contact with. And so what if they admit "most French women smoke instead of eating". Being thin is way more important than emphysema or lung cancer, obv. Gawd how I hate the attitude of smug Sunday supplement journos that everything is so wonderful in France and so dismal in blighty. Smug feckers.

a pune or play on words (with associated gratuitous pandas)
panda bears bear with me:

having kids is great

You get to watch kids tv without having to feel embarassed about it. Hurrah.

Top 3 Saturday morning kids tv shows, in reverse order ...

1) Dick N Dom inda Bungalow
manages to be that very rare thing in kids tv - genuinely silly and even a little anarchic, without being self-consciously wacky - also features the mighty Baby Race in which real babies race each other while the watching kids place bets. Genius

2) Going Live
the show that brought us Gordon the Gopher and Trevor & Simon. Does anyone else remember the Curtis's Tigers [1] phone-in? Kylie swinging her pants in the Singing Corner? The Hair Cupboard

3) Tiswas
nuff said

The TV Cream guide to Saturday morning TV

Other news: we went swimming this morning, cycled there and back too. It's a miserable horrible day so I think we're staying inside for the rest of it. Didn't get to see much of bommie night last night, as O was too scared of the fireworks and ran back inside as soon as he heard any bangs. Ah well. Eating is going OK - after a few dodgy days, I'm back calorie counting again.


[1] Curtis Steigers

burfday presents - breaking news

O got back from school to find one last present for him to open, brought by the postie this morning ...

Elizabeth is a Sentinel steam tipper wagon.
She's also the first lorry the Fat Controller drove as a young man. Stubborn, proud and a touch regal, Elizabeth doesn't suffer fools gladly. Nimble and efficient, she can move lots of material in a short period of time.

Now she's now hurtling round the living room and joins the 'fave presents' list

panda news

for sentimental reasons (which I'm not going to explain but which some people will understand), snippets of panda news may appear from time to time.

China Daily reports Giant panda cubs set world records

Shulan, 10-year-old, was pregnant for 200 days before she gave birth. Her pregnancy is the longest ever recorded, as giant panda pregnancies usually range between 83 and 181 days.

Yes Mr DaddyPanda, it's the longest pregancy on record honest, happens all the time, humans have 10 month pregancies sometimes too hemm hemm koff. Good job male pandas can't count innit.

Silly panda site of the day:

yesterday

Keen-eyed readers may have spotted that there was no calorie count for yesterday. Ummm. Guess what I ate jelly and cake and such at the party. But also guess what, I didn't completely pig out on it, and did make sure to eat some of the veggies and fruit we'd put out too. I was on my feet all day, getting ready in the morning and then running round doing party things all afternoon. When all the kids finally left, I was completely knackered, so I'm hoping that correlates with calories burned.

I missed something off the list of O's fave presents - he also loved his pop party cd - I think we had it on 5 times yesterday and then he had to listen to it this morning before skool. Oops I seem to have scratched it by accident oh dear it won't play anymore what a shame.

O's favourite burfday presents

in no particular order...

• Trainbot is it a robot? is it a train? transformer robot train = boy heaven.
  
• spiderman costume good old fashioned fun
  
• Power Ranger Ninja Wind Morpher wha'??
  
• bike nuff said
  
• Hotwheels T-Rex playset The Most Ludicrous Toy In The History Of The World Ever. A two and a half foot tall plastic dinosaur, with a (stupidly loud) motor at the bottom that fires cars up its back into its mouth, until (with the aid of the seekrit Attack Lever) you fire a car at the right angle to make the dinosaur roar, open its mouth and spew cars all over the room.
  
• ocean book I've been reading it all evening, it's top
  

what the British papers say ...

3 of today's front pages


(and the Daily Mail thinks this is A Good Thing)





ok, back to cleaning and cake baking ...

ooh I nearly forgot

what with all the running round preparing for O's birthday and the miserable news from Left-Pond ... R had a meeting with his PhD supervisor yesterday, and she not only thinks he should aim to get his dissertation published in book form, she also thinks he should write a text book! Wooooo. S'great recognition for his talent and hard work.

just to cheer me up

R remarked that George W now has control of the Senate and House of Representatives, and doesn't have to worry about re-election as he can't stand again anyway. Feck.

handy guide to the US political system for brits

added later: even more depressingly, the thought that even tho Bush has run out of terms, America hasn't run out of Bushes occurs.

she looks how I feel

Kerry admits US election defeat



I thought I wasn't really that bothered about who won the US election, because it won't really make much difference who's in charge. But in the end I do care, very much. I find it so profoundly depressing that so many people went out and queued for hours to vote for George W. Bush.

From the Big Church to the Big River
And out to the Shining Sea
This is the Land of Opportunity
And there's a Monkey Trial on TV
...
Help save the youth of America
Help save the youth of the world
Help save the boys in uniform
Their mothers and their faithful girls

Listen to the voice of the soldier
Down in the killing zone
Talking about the cost of living
And the price of bringing him home

Billy Bragg, Help Save The Youth of America

what the ....

This can't be right, surely. It can't be the case that Barack Obama is the only Black member of the US senate?

He will be the only black member among 100 senators when Congress convenes in January and only the fifth African-American to serve there.

Only the fifth African-American to be a Senator! That's unbelievable. Tell me it's a mistake.

intervals

I was reading about the joys of interval training.

... which involves alternating high- and lower-intensity work bouts

Turns out I've been doing interval training for months and I never knew, I just call it urban cycling. You get to alternate bouts of steady pedalling in slow moving traffic with bouts of furious pedalling to keep your place when the speed moves up or just to avoid some near-death situation. You get even more intensity for your work out, actually, with free added heart racing adrenaline pumping surges of fear and rage induced by antics of cagers or the 'design' of the latest cycling farcility.

Rest is also important: a minimum of 90 seconds is required for energy replenishment in between your high-intensity intervals.

yep you get that too eg waiting at traffic lights, doing emergency stop when some twunt in a white van pulls in right in front of you to park in the cycle lane [1], etc

I got my quota of interval training [2] this morning, instead of my morning walk, cos I had to go shopping for the various bits of tat that are essential to a child's birthday party. When did party bags become mandatory? Some time between me growing up and O getting to party age, anyways. We just got a bit of cake, and a balloon if we were really lucky, now you have to provide bags stuffed full of tat and sugar. Bah. I am aiming to keep the tat quotient down by providing useful-but-shiny things eg fancy little notebooks and holographic pencils.

OK now I shall get back to checking BBC news every 2 minutes to check that the stuff about Bush probably winning was just a bad dream work.



[1] this is actually legal, provided that you have your hazard warning lights flashing. It says so in the White Van Drivers Highway Code, right next to that bit on how indicating to pull out gives you the right of way over all other traffic

[2] while clad in my Stealth Costume. It is a little known but scientifically proven fact that wearing a bright red waterproof, flourescent yellow leg bands and a silly hat renders you invisible to motorists. The SAS dress in a similar way to go into seekrit combat missions.

how the other half votes

I've just been watching the US election coverage on Newsnight. I can't believe Americans have to queue for hours to vote! In the UK, we usually just walk straight in, get our voting paper, put our X in the box and walk about again.

I'm tempted to stay up and watch the results as they come in. I'm a bit of a news junkie and a complete sucker for election night coverage (yes I was still up for Portillo). I :heart: Peter Snow, with his swingometers and stockinged feet. But I have a vile headache (see below) and a pile of stuff to do tomorrow, so need a good night's sleep.

D**t News: bleurgh. Things went a bit wrong and there were cr*sps. Lots of. Bad. I feel like cr@p now, and I put the above headache down to the quantity of salt and artificial flavourings consumed. One day I will learn my lesson ....

So anyways calories sky high today, but at least I got some exercise in. Some walking, plus some cals burned up cleaning the house in readiness for O's birthday party on Thursday. So I'd better get to bed, I need all the sleep I can get in the run up to a house full of 20+ kids in a sugar frenzy.

Good luck, America.

Daily Review
food/cals ~ 2600 cals, bad things eaten bad bad; fruit ~ 3 (melon, banana, grapes); exercise ~ walking & housework; water ~ 1 litre; booze ~ 0

don't get fooled again

Article from Sunday's Observer about why food won't taste as good as it looks. Apparantly the food manufacturers cheat so that the photos on the packets look way better than the food you actually get. Hard to believe, isn't it. Food manufacturers setting out to deceive and seduce us? I was shocked.

either/or

either wine or pistachios. Well, ideally neither obviously, but if there has to be indulgence, make it one or the other, not both. From such small choices is weight loss born. It'd better be, otherwise I've passed up rioja for nowt.

Daily Review
food/cals ~ 2025, mostly good(ish); fruit ~ 3; exercise ~ walking, aquarobics; water ~ 1 litre; booze ~ 0

not just me, then

I'm not the only one who fell into the clutches of the sug@r demons this weekend. They even got to Juju over at Skinny Daily:

And no, I didn’t indulge in a bite or two of a favorite treat. And I didn’t enjoy one whole serving of a lovely dessert only to get right back on my eating program the next day. This wasn’t a reasonable sort of indulgence. Over the past few days of parties and play, I consumed more sugar than I have in the entire previous year.
...
What bothers me more than the same old stuff that always bothers me in these situations— remembering that I don’t have control over certain foods, that I never will, that I have to be smarter, that I’m not like other people — is knowing that it will take days now to remove this stuff from my system, and during these days I’ll be craving sugar and sweet stuff. The cravings will occupy a chunk of my brain that would come in handy this week for other things.

amazingly ...

... and inspite of all the cr@p consumed this week, I have lost 1 lb. Wooo.

Also I think I may have learnt my lesson about the evuls of sug@r. I did feel really dreadful after eating way too much of the stuff over the weekend. Last night I found a large bar of chocolate in the cupboard (left over from party preparations). I stared at it for a minute then demanded R take it away and dispose of it (ie bin it or, if he wants to eat it, hide it from me and take it in to work today). Non-scale victory for me, I think.

Happy Halloween!

We've had a fab day, and even my eating has been better. I think I ate so much sug@r yesterday I made myself a bit ill, and today my body was looking for some food with some nutrient content. So I had omlette & salad for lunch, and pumpkin soup at the party, and while I wasn't exactly an angel (some cakes were consumed) I did pretty good in the circs. Even so, come the Moment of Truth tomorrow morning I don't expect to have lost weight. Ah well, I'll work on getting it right(er) next week.


These are our pumpkin lanterns - one made from a garden-centre pumpkin and one from our own, small but perfectly form, home grown pumpkin (of which we are inordinately proud).



Halloween party was great. We made them do traditional halloween games like apple bobbing and the pancake game [1] and the chocolate game [2] before letting them out to do modern new-fangled left pondish trick or treating tsk. They got a good haul, as some of our neighbours are nice kind people. And while they were doing that, we tried to explain to the Korean parents of one of the children what it was all in aid of.


[1] aka the treacle scone game (it uses scotch pancakes, which in Scotland are known as drop scones).

Eating treacle scones strung from a washing line hung across the kitchen is a long-established Halloweeen game. The treacle scones should be ... daubed in sticky treacle before being hung up. (It is a good idea to put a newspaper down on the floor to catch the drips.) All competitors should then have their hands tied behind their backs and the idea of the game is to see who can eat most of their scone. (The Scotsman)

we didn't tie them up, tho, just insist on hands behind backs.

[2] ok so it's not a trad halloween game but hey it's fun and it involves chocolate.

tricks and treats

No calorie logging today. Safe to say the number of cals consumed is approximately Huge. Well when you're baking, you have to lick the spoon and test the finished product. S'quality control innit. Ghost biscuits [1] and poison buns and toffee apples and pumpkin lanterns and halloween party cd all made.

O is nearly bursting with excitment at the day full of halloween excitement he has on tomorrow. First, in the morning there's chocolate coated apples to be made and poison buns to be iced. Then after lunch there's the apple & pumpkin party at the local community garden centre, straight from there to the halloween party at our neighbour's that we've been doing the baking for, then out trick or treating. We :heart: halloween, although possibly not quite as much as this woman.

And once all that's over with, he has his birthday on Thursday. I bought his present from us today, and my sister rang earlier to say that she's bought him the ludicrously overpriced and over packaged pile of plastic he has been coveting lately. We delivered the party invites this evening, and as soon as halloween's out of the way, I've got all the party cooking to do. Diet, what diet?


[1] is it wrong to use the Xmas Dove biscuit cutter [2] to make 'ghost' biscuits for halloween?

[2] that may be 'cookie cutter' to you.

I hate this

I have a bar of chocolate in the cupboard. A very large bar of chocolate. It's there for making choccie apples for halloween. It's trying to make me eat it. All round the supermarket the chocolate demons were after me. I hate this, it feels exaclty like stopping smoking, and I don't know if I want to do that kind of hard work all over again.

Daily Review
food/cals ~ 1960 - over 1750 boo but under 2000, not bad considering biscuits, wine and nuts have been involved; fruit ~ 1 banana tsk; exercise ~ 30 mins bike, 20 mins walking; water ~ 2.25 l; booze ~ 2 glasses red wine

going out

Had to go Out today. I did really well in the morning, lunchtime was OK (well ok-ish considering vegetarian option was egg mayo sarnies or cheese sarnies). But by mid-afternoon I couldn't resist the M&S luxury choccie biscuit assortment any more. Ah well, I think I burnt them off cycling there and back.

all i want for christmas

 

much excitement

new options flavour discovered today! limited edition banana flavour mmmmmm also I have re-discovered low-cal cranberry juice huurraah I was getting bit bored of having just water at every meal, now I can have juice-and-water for only a teeny number of cals. Oh and I came in under 1500 cals today without even trying. I even said no to a biscuit. I have also invented a new tofu recipe which I may share with the world at some point.

Daily Review
food/cals ~ 1307 omg; fruit ~ 2 (bananas) oops tsk; exercise ~ belly dancing class; water ~ 1 litre; booze ~ 0

dear work people

please do not ring up and mither me when I am having a BRMC moment.

slight blip

I dunno what got into me last night but anyway that was last night and today is today and I am back on track wooo. I am in danger of crossing bridges far to early again, worrying about the halloween party I've offered to help organise on Sunday and the cakes and choccie apples I'm going to be making for it. So I will forget about all of that for now, except to burn a few calories laughing everytime O talks about going "trickle treating".

buggrit

bingette cals + b*llsh*t cals = way too many feckin cals

I. Want. Chocolate. Now.

that is all.

teenage dreams, so hard to beat

'Teenage Kicks: the lyrics I want on my tombstone'

Sheila, my wife - I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight - knows that when I die, the only words I want on my tombstone, apart from my name, are:

'Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat.'

What more do you need?

Mark Radcliffe on John Peel:

He made us realise that you did not have to mellow with age - music could continue to mean as much to us now as it always did.

on letting a 4 year old dictate your meals

Lunch was going to be soup and bread. Till O said he really really wanted omlettes. So, cheese omlettes it was, thereby doubling my calorific intake from that planned. But, on the other hand, at the greengrocer's he insisted we buy a cabbage and a cauliflower. As I am treating non-starchy vegetables as 'free', our tea of cauliflower cheese (with low fat white sauce) and buttered cabbage came in at 200 cals. Then again we did have pudding tsk. Oh, and there was b*tt*r ...

Thanks to everyone who posted encouraging comments for my restart bid. Especially to Marla, who helped me look on the bright side. Like she said, I have not gained weight this year. Who knows how heavy I would be now if I hadn't been working at it, all be it intermittently.

Another bright side to look on - my calorie intake for today may be over-budget, but it's still under the number of calories someone my weight and activity level needs to maintain their weight.


Daily Review
food/cals ~ 1960 eep; fruit ~ 3 (banana, 2 pears); exercise ~ 20 mins walking (at child pace), 20 mins belly dance vid; water ~ 0.75 litre; booze ~ 0

sadness

John Peel died.

After announcing Peel's death on Radio 1, the station played his favourite song, Teenage Kicks, by The Undertones.

/sheds a tear and spends afternoon listening to FabricLive07

one day at a time

Today went good. Calories within budget, exercise done, all good. Even betterer, my aquarobics instructor said she thought I'd lost weight. Makes me think that even though I don't always do so well with weight loss, at least the exercise is making me a better shape.

Off for an early night now. Gotta get up early tomorrow to try and get some work in, before a fun filled day of rainy day child care. Feckin half-term holidays bah.


Daily Review
food/cals ~ 1530, eating 'good' things; fruit ~ 3 (apple, banana, melon); exercise ~ aquarobics; water ~ 2 litre; booze ~ 0

yo-yo no-no

So here I go again. Clazza's Weight Loss Programme, Take 3.

As of today, I weigh a whole 2 lb less than when I started all this 10 months ago. I thought I had it sorted then. Just eat less and move more, and I'll be sylph-like for Xmas. Easy-peasy. Hah.

At least I now have more idea what I'm up against. I have learnt some stuff, and I also have the wonderful world of all you lovely diet bloggers, too.

So, here I go again. I've decided to go back to calorie counting. It's such a feckin bore, but it's the only thing that seems to work. Big Sigh.

new plan

An update to the orginal plan.

Daily

• calorie count! - weigh and write down what I eat
  
• aim to eat 1500 - 1750 calories per day
  
• drink at least 1 litre of water a day
  
• eat no crisps
  
• drink no sugary fizzy drinks
  
• think before eating - am I really hungry? what will this food do for me?
  
• eat at least 3 pieces of fruit a day (together with the veggies I usually get at meal times, that will put me on target for 'Five a Day')
  
• remember to suck my tummy in as much as possible!

Weekly

• exercise for at least 30 minutes, 5 days out of 7, normally to include:
  
  • 1 aquarobics session
    
  • 1 belly dance class
    
  • 1 swim
    
  • do my belly dance video once a week
    
  • walk for 30 mins, at least 3 days a week
    
  • go by bike (instead of car/bus) whenever practical
    
• do something active with O every weekend (eg bike ride, walk, go swimming)
  
• weigh myself once a week only, on Monday mornings

Monthly

• lose 1 lb a week on average (the 'pound a week' club)
  
• set a monthly challenge (starting November)

quick note

Have had fab weekend. Gave Trin guided tour of where we live, then we all went for lunch in our local caff. After that Trin had to go home booooo but C came to stay yay and then we all went on train to the PRY [1] to see some other friends. Stayed there overnight, came back this evening. Then I acted as a taxi service for a bit, and am now going to slob out with new book and nice wine.

And no, Jude, I haven't forgot about the Diet-restart-on-Monday Pact. Nor have I started yet either.


[1] People's Republic of Yorkshire

Thomas 'worse than crack', mother warns

A warning for all parents of young children. Do all you possibly can to avoid the Cult of Th*m*s gaining a foothold in your home. It starts innocently enough, a book here, the odd video there, perhaps a trip on the Sodor express and you kid yourself it's just a harmless bit of fun. Then comes the train set for Xmas. The train set is the point of no return. From there it is only a matter of time till you find yourself in the kind of situation I was in today. O, 3 years on from getting his first train set, still a Th*m*s-phreak. We already have a huge box of track and associated paraphernalia (4 different bridges, water tower, turntable, coal hopper, moving points, buffers, stations etc) and another huge box of trains.

Having acquired some funds of his own to be spent as he saw fit, O headed for the toy shop. He looked at the Power Rangers and Spider Man and Action Man and Thunderbirds and etc etc boys toys, pronounced them all 'kewl', then said 'lets go and get a train now'. Wouldn't you like a powerranger/ spiderman/ turtle/ etc? No, I want a train, lets go mummy. Then another half hour of deciding which of the myriad engines to get [1]. Then he took it to the station and played happily with his train while watching trains while waiting for a train to come in. I do try to be interested in things he's interested in, but there's a limit to how many times you can feign fascination with another train pulling into the station.

For small boys, Th*m*s is more addictive than crack. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Other news: Trin's here woooooo. She arrived safe and sound and on time. We came home for cup of tea then spent a couple of hours worshipping at the local Temple of Mammon. She was most impressed, I don't think they got shops like that down south. They certainly don't got them with faux Grecian statuary and a food court modelled on the deck of the Titanic. She also v impressed with O's beautiful diction. I think she's wrong to say that O loves her for the chocolate, tho - it was the über-kewl cars that did it. A lovely evening of eating, drinking, chatting and chocolate followed, marred only by the Voice of Th*m*s turning up on TV.


[1] He decided on Gordon in the end

A Tale of Two Binges

Binge 1 ~ last night ~ x1000 cals: I knew R was going out for the evening. On my way home from aquarobics, I called into the supermarket and bought a pile of stuff to binge on. As soon as he went out, I ate till I felt sick. I don't even know why I did it, I haven't been feeling particularly bad lately.

Binge 2 ~ this morning ~ 0 cals: cycled into town to pay a large cheque into the bank and then (even tho we are skint and most of that money is going to go on paying bills), celebrated by indulging in a Waterstones 3-for-2 offer.

I love getting new books. We have a houseful of books but can always find room for more. I'm going to have to limit myself to splurges at the local Oxfam bookshop from now on. Aksually I love Oxfam bookshop - last week I found some excellent fact books for O, plus a fantastic kids' joke book that my sis used to have.

Other news: Warning: sensitive mens who don't like to read about 'ladies things' should avert their eyes now


ladies
Before going to town, I had to go see the practice nurse at the doctor's surgery, for a routine smear test and check on my IUD. Our practice nurse, Sister L, is a sweetie. She never forgets to warm the speculum.

OK you can look again now

Sister L's the one who put me in touch with the smoking cessation service, which was the start of my ultimately succesful quit. We've talked about my weight issues in the past. We talked about them some more today, she was encouraging about what I've been doing and not down on me for not making more progress. She also mentioned that if I feel that compulsive eating is a real problem for me, there are support groups I could go to. I'll see how I go on for a bit longer, but keep that in mind. I love Sister L, she's 'soft cop' to our GPs 'tough cop'. And we all know nurses rool.

Still not getting it right

My eating is still in a deep dark bad place (hence no food logging). I can't even imagine having the motivation to get it back on track. I don't know what to do. I am at least keeping up the exercise - aquarobics again tonight.

In other news: I spent the morning in O's class, on their open day. It was good to see what they get up to. And I will be seeing a lot more of it, as I have volunteered to help out in class one morning a week.

Other other news: only 2 days till Trin visits woooooooooo!

ooh goodie a quiz

Which File Extension are You?


(found on the gruaniad on-line blog, all hail the Mighty mr_jack.ogg)

dancing, laughing, drinking, loving

Marc Almond 'stable' after crash

Fingers crossed that Marc is able to do all these and more again, soon. Get well soon, Marc.

Theatre of Marc Almond

who broked the blogosphere?

Bloggrolling seems to have disappeared (taking my links with it) and Blogshares is having a Database Maintenance Moment.

not going the extra mile

I had various errands to run this morning, local stuff but all in different directions. Would've been about 3 miles to walk it. But it looked like rain so I wimped out and cycled instead. Will either to go aquarobics or for a swim this evening, too. Still can't get the Eating Right thing right, but can at least keep on going with the Exercise Thing.

scrabble, and other wholesome family entertainments

Oooh goodie, Trin wants to play games with us when she comes to visit. We love board games we do. So glad she wants to join us for an evening of wholesome family fun. Here are a few highlights from our extensive selection:

• Frustration ~ ludo's even more exciting with a pop-o-matic die


• Mahjong ~ we have lovely set from Chinatown but are still mahjong n00bs. We don't get to play much since our mahjong-playing neighbours moved away, boo.


• Monopoly ~ another game I spect we'll be getting the junior version of soon. Currently we have 3 - classic, Coronation Street & Star Trek


• Risk ~ the classic geeky student's all night entertainment. Not just students, either, all kinds of geeky-types love da Risk. The more hippy, peace-loving, lefty, anarcho-crusty they are, the more determined they are to establish global domination by any means necessary. We haven't actually got a Risk set right now - I've bought at least 2 but somehow at 7am, after staying up playing risk for 72 hrs solid (with associated drinking), you can never quite remember whose set it was to start with. And you are too desperate to go to bed to argue about it. Risk - as endorsed by the TickleMeister. Nuff said.


• Scattergories ~ v. good game for when you have people round, and one of the few games that genuinely works well with people of all ages (and can be played in teams, or not).


• Scrabble ~ we :heart: scrabble. We have 3 scrabble sets (new one, old one (kept for spares for new one) & travel scrabble). Shortly to be 4 sets when O gets Scrabble Jnr from Santa. R once gave me a copy of How To Play Better Scrabble for my burfday, and our dictionary is almost always bookmarked at the 2-letter words list at the back. It's a shame Trin's not gonna be here at the same time as C this weekend - C's favourite is Dirty Word Scrabble. C usually wins at that, but I reckon Trin would give her a run for her money. Gift ideas for Danz: Disney Scrabble.


• Snakes & Ladders ~ gotta love that up and down action.


• Trivial Pursuit ~ yes OK so we're Thatcher's Children. Don't hate us, it's not our fault. Gift ideas for Abby: Goth "Trivial Pursuit"

Or, if you wanna play for real, I could always take you to the casino. Don't say I don't know how to show a girl a good time ...

Highlights of my Sunday

1. Spending the morning at the swimming pool with R & O, and getting a good work-out playing piggy in the middle in the water (this will be a key part of P-Aerobics™ my all new concept in work-out and well-being for the busy parent (parent-aerobics geddit)).
   
   
2. Spending the afternoon on the sofa reading the paper while R took O to ride his new bike round the park.
   
   
3. Starting on the Francis Wheen book.
   
   
4. Roast garlic, roast pumpkin, roast sweet potato, roast carrots, roast shallots, mmmmm.
   
   
5. Rousing games of Pop Up Pirate and Manic Martians. I totally rool at Manic Martians, I won 3 games out of 3 wooo.
   

Highlights of my Saturday

1. Baby Race on Dick 'n' Dom (me and O have decided that we need to have a baby immediately, so that we can enter).
   
   
2. Reading the Little Britain new series interview in the grauniad.
   
   
3. Getting a cd of photos from our friend in Canada (I'm sorting out an on-line photo album to share them with everyone, till she can get her internet up and running).
   
   
4. Seeing O riding his new bike, an early birthday pressie from Granny & Grandad. It has 20" wheels, 6-speed gears, and most importantly, a bell. It has flames painted all over it, is called a HotRod and is officially Kewl.
   
   
5. Eggs Floretine for lunch in the caff.
   
   
6. O going to his friend's birthday party, leaving me and R to enjoy some 'quality time' together.
   
   
7. Roasted garlic
   
   
8. Phish food (if you're gonna go off diet, may as well do it right).

Bring on Sunday.

stop this madness!

Government pays for 'gourmet' ice

A farmer in Shropshire planning to sell "gourmet" ice cubes made from spring water has been given a £40,000 government grant.
Phil Mann already sells bottled spring water, taken from a well on his family farm near Hopton Heath.

He now plans to freeze that water and sell it under the name Shropshire Rocks.

n'eau, n'eau, n'eau!

The royal visiting season is upon us

You may recall how I feel about cleaning. The only time we do cleaning is when we're having visitors. And visitors we are having in abundance. My parents have sprung a visit on us for tomorrow morning, so it's a fun-filled Friday night of cleaning for us. Then we have to try and keep reasonably clean (at least so you can see the floor under the newspapers, and also see what colour it is under the cat-hair). For Trin is gracing us with her fragrant presence nexxt weekend, and then immediately after that C is coming to stay. OMG @ having to keep the house tidy for a week.

oh and another AAAAARGH

for the same website/department. Aaaargh for when you know they've ammended an official document - you know so cos you have a sheaf of dead tree in front of you telling you so and it's dated 4 weeks ago - and they haven't updated the information on their website. Bah. And that's after you've spent the past half hour trying to find the feckin thing on their shiny new site.

things that make you go AAAAARGH!!

When a government website that is hard to negotiate but you have to use most days of your working life gets a make-over. So now it's prettier (it looks like a blog, bless) but not easier to negotiate. And all your carefully harvested links to specific pages you need regularly turn up 404 errors. Add to this the annoyance of the laughable (if I didn't need the information and wasn't in fact paying for it through my taxes) 'search' function on UK government websites and you have a recipe for making me want to give up and go home.

Except I am already at home. So I will make more coffee and turn on my msn messenger instead. It's the closest thing we home workers get to hanging out in the office kitchen. You're welcome to join me there, by the way. My MSN id is clarriegrundy [[at]] hotmail [[dot]] com. Drop in any time, I'll have the kettle on.

linkety-link: The 404 Research Lab

oh and another thing

I've decided it's not boredom, it's ennui.

I'm also bored of all my music. I have over 20 gb worth of mp3s on this puter and I don't particularly want to listen to any of them. Anyone got any suggestions for something to titilate my jaded musical palate?

I'm bored

Weighed self today, lost nowt. Not surprising. I'm bored of this dieting thing now. That's always a danger for me, getting bored and the novelty wears off and then I can't be arsed with it anymore. The question is, am I prepared to put the effort and energy into getting things moving again? And the answer is, I don't know.

I'm fed up of working at things. I don't mean physical work, I mean the emotional and psychological work I'd have to do to change how I eat. I feel like I already have to work hard at what I've got on now - caring for my family, staying sane, staying stopped smoking. I don't know if I want to be making an effort in every corner of my life. Aren't I entitled to veg out a bit in some areas? That's what my inner binger keeps telling me.

I know this is junkie thinking. I don't know if I want to do the work to change it.

Just because I'm cynical, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me

I read this on the BBC's website, about how 'experts say'

a tape measure could be a better guide to future health risks than bathroom scales

Interesting, I thought (mind you, on current form I'm stuffed either way (no pun intended)) and followed the linkies till I got to the National Obesity Forum's Waist Watch Action site. And being the kind of person who reads the small print, I notice the link at the bottom of the page telling me the site is "provided as a service to medicine by Roche Products Ltd". You'll never guess, it turns out that Roche make the 'anti-obesity drug' Xenical/orlistat. For some reason or other, I am deeply suspcious of drug companies' involvment in 'health promotion'.

Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-conventional medical drugs. Me and people close to me have benefited greatly from modern pharmaceuticals (anti-depressants and beta-blockers for example). I like science, and one of my best-friends-in-the-world is a research chemist. But drug companies' primary interest is in making profits, not in making my life better. I want to take health advice from impartial sources, not from those who have an interest in selling me something - whether that's big-pharma selling me drucks or nice ladies off the telly selling me 'natural' remedies (actually don't get me started on 'natural' remedies, that's a whole other rant for another day ... ). And there's little profit for anyone in me simply eating less and moving more.

Oh and I'm cross that the BBC reported failed to point out the drug company's interest. I feel another 'annoyed of manchester' email coming on ...

Thursday Log

Food

breakfast: w/meal toast w. pb

lunch: banana & soya choco pudding (owning to shopping-failure, that's just about all there is in the house right now)

snack: some nuts (almonds, brazils)

tea: omlette, oven chips, corn-on-the-cob

drinks: 1 mug coffee (no milk); 1 mug tea (w. s-s milk); 1 options; 2 x 750 ml water

Exercise

none. zilch nada zero. no walk this morning because I overslept because of insomnia last night. No belly dancing tonight because I had a tummy ache. How pathetic is that? I didn't go belly dancing to reduce my belly cos I had a bellyache brought on by stuffing my belly too full.

Daily Review
food ~ ; fruit ~ ; exercise ~ ; water ~ ; booze ~

a new hobby for dad

My dad retires next year and my mum's dreading it. Even he can't play golf every single day. He will spend the rest of his time 'helping' her aka getting in the way and trying to suggest 'improvements' to household tasks that mum has been carrying out perfectly well, unaided, for the past 30 plus years.

So, he's gonna need a new hobby for those non-golfing days. Mum thinks maybe he could get into this new fangled interweb they've heard about, and she got us to get him books about computers for his birthday. That was 6 months ago and he still hasn't passed the window-shopping stage. Oh and he refuses all efforts by me to offer advice. After all, what could I, non-engineer that I am, know about such things? Just because I did extensive research on my own computer, replaced my hard drive all by myself and spend most of my waking hours on-line. Tsk, as if I'd have anything to offer.

So anyway, ending the venting of my issues with pater familias, this is leading up to me bookmarking Cooking For Engineers. My dad's an engineer, he knows how a cooker works and he's old enough to be trusted with sharp knives and it's about time he learnt to make his own tea. Once he's worked out how to use computers, I reckon learning to cook should be his next project.

Double Deckers Part Deux

I posted about this before I knew she'd [1] posted that. Double Deckers in all their forms have been much on my mind today. Everybody sing along now ....


[1] I can hear my mother's voice now "Who's she, the cat's mother?"

Double Decker?

double decker? 



double decker? 



double decker? 


you decide ...

I still can't get the eating thing right

but I did at least get the exercise thing right today. 12,455 paces on the pedometer (mainly walked to, from, and around tube stations) and 30 mins on bike (to/from train station).

Back to eating right (or at least right-er) tomorrow ...

will my pedometer change my life?

Piece about pedometers in the BBC news magazine. Apparently, just wearing one doesn't make you thinner. Boo. You have to actually go and walk more, too. Spokesmansays

The 10,000 daily target should include 30 minutes of proper walking each day

I have been wearing mine [1] more as a lucky talisman than anything else. And not doing 10,000 steps most days. Praps I will think about setting a new improved walking challenge ...

other news ~ Koff-Watch: bloomin koff still not gone. I thought it had gone, didn't even need the cough medicine last night, but then I woke up at 5 am with koffing fit. Bah. I shall be laying in more stocks of codeine as prescribed by my personal nurse.


[1] yes I have found it now. it was hiding under a tower of papers on what we laughing call our desk

Tuesday Log

Food

breakfast: rice cakes w. s-f p/b, banana

lunch: cheese salad tortillas, dates & nuts, apple

tea: spaghetti w. tomato sauce & cheese, banana

drinks: 1 mug coffee (no milk); 2 x 750 ml water; 2 mug tea (w. s-s milk)

Exercise

walking: 25 mins (don't know distace, I've misplaced pedometer)

Daily Review
food ~ ; fruit ~ ; exercise ~ ; water ~ ; booze ~

I didn't want to go

but seeing as how I won't be able to go on Wednesday, and seeing as how I've moped about feeling sorry for self for quite long enough, I hauled myself off the sofa and down to aquarobics tonight.

Course the real reason I went was to try out my new cozzie. It arrived last week from the ever lovely Allens. I recommend the Maru Classic cozzies for us more traditionally built ladies. My new one's an appollo aqua masters like this


and I look just like that it in, natch, except that I have better hair. Cozzie has added support in the chest area, which one really feels the benefit of when jumping about at aquarobics. I think I may have been over-optimistic in ordering the size smaller than I had last time, tho, it is a teeny bit snug hem hem.

grrr @ blogger

grrr, stoopid 'blog this' button. It keeps putting posts here, despite my telling it to put them at my other blog. So, sorry bout political stuff popping up now and again, but blame blogger.

Monday Log

Food

Breakfast: 50 g shreddies w. s-s milk, banana

Lunch: shop-bought egg sarnie (boo); dates 'n' nuts

Tea: noodles w. green beans, tofu & sesame oil; banana & soya chocolate pudding

snack: rice cakes & b*tt*r (bad bad evul b*tt*r)

Drinks: 2 mug coffee (no milk); 2 mug tea (w. s-s milk); 1 can diet coke; 1.5 l water; 1 irish coffee flavour options w. medicinal whisky

Exercise

walking: 1.5 miles (too greengrocer and healthfood shop)

aquarobics

Am still feeling bleurgh with lurgy grrr. Am off for walk to greengrocers to see if that will make me feel any better (or send me to the sofa for the rest of the day).


Daily Review
food ~ ok; fruit ~ 3 (if dates counts - must make self eat fruit other than just bananas, tho); exercise ~ walking + aquarobics = v.g.; water ~ 1.5 l; booze ~ medicinal

for no particular reason

apart from looking at this pic cheers me in up in my omg-when-will-this-koff-go-away-feeling-sorry-for-self-ness:




R & O on a beach at sunset on our holidays last year.

happiness is ...

Observer Food monthly

(except the bit where Dr John "wheat is the work of satan" Briffa tells us to drink more mineral water. I feel a strongly worded e-mail coming on ... )

Vegetarian Sausage Guide

DG asked about veggie sausages. I am currently addicted to Asda's own brand frozen vegetarian hotdogs, they are delish and also v diet friendly cos you boil instead of frying. I think most supermarkets stock their own brands, or if not they stock the tivall ones. We eat sosmix sausages quite often too, handy store cupboard stand-by, but nothing like 'real' sausages (and also can absorb quite a lot of oil while cooking, if you're not careful).

oops

There was some ill-advised eating yesterday, but then I was ver' ver' drunk. I have been punished for it today with a hangover and the return of my sore throat & koff boo. Eating has been OK today, now I'm off for an early night.

In other news ~ books wot I bought on a Waterstones 3-for-2 deal today:



Pedantry of the day: Commotion in the Ocean shows polar bears and penguins together. Tsk. Polar bears live near the north pole and penguins near the south and are only ever seen together in zoos, kids books and vilely cute &/or 'humorous' greetings cards. Bah.

Boo

Weighed self, gained 2 lb, boo. I knew it was gonna happen but am still fed up about it. I have to sort myself out, I don't want to be a yo-yo dieter.

I have to go out all day today, for work incl. working lunch, and not back till late. I do not have high hopes for today being a good day.

an insight?

I was thinking today about eating and calories and so on. And the think that I was thinking was ... for me, what's important is not what happens at normal meal times. It's what happens the rest of the time that really counts.

See, I think my proper meals are pretty much OK. We decided when O was born that he'd eat what we eat (ie no special/separate kids meals) so that means we have to come up with something that's vaguely healthy and nutritious at most meals. We also have an (increasingly old-fashioned) "eating at the table and no tv at meal times" rule. We don't have desserts at most meals, usually just fruit and/or yoghurt. And since I started on my weight loss efforts, I've got a handle on portion size (weighing out pasta etc).

I am increasingly coming to realise how much of a problem I have with bingeing, tho. When I binge, I binge alone. I'm used to having the house to myself all day, and get irritated if R decides to work at home on a day I'm feeling like bingeing. Is it because I don't want people to know? Because I don't want to share? Probably the former, embarrassment coupled with guilty pleasure. It's not fun if it's not forbidden.

So what this is leading up to, is me realising that contrary to most diet-theories (which seem to concentrate on meal times), it's non-meal times I have to worry about.

Which is also another way of saying that I'm not worrying about what I eat when I go out for lunch with colleagues tomorrow.